Caf Run
by ja54591
Summary: A quick refreshment break during a supply run leads Sabine to make several important observations about Ezra.


If there was one thing that Ezra truly loved about Capitol City, it was the street markets. From the day of his parents capture, the markets seemed to be the only semblance of normalcy in a city slowly succumbing to the grasp of the Imperial occupiers. Rain or shine, dust storm or cloud burst, the stands would appear every seventh rotation, filling the central district with the voices of a thousand different tongues calling out their wares. Ezra vividly remembered running from stand to stand, the smell of exotic spices and grilling meats making his mouth water with anticipation. The vendors almost always took pity on the urchins that slipped behind their stalls, tossing them the slightly-overdone bits from the edges from the grill when Imperial health inspectors weren't looking. The evenings afterwards he'd return to his tower, a full stomach shielding his sleep from the pains of hunger that would eventually return as the week went on.

"Everything okay?"

The voice startled Ezra from his reflection. He turned to the brightly-clad Mandalorian standing next to him, shooting her an uneven smile.

"Yeah… I'm good." Sabine cocked her head to the side. Even with her helmet on, Ezra knew she was giving him a very pronounced raised eyebrow.

"Right. I could have tied your feet together with a line of detcord and you wouldn't have noticed." Ezra's half-smile spread into a grin as he continued to walk down the street, immediately warning her of the impeding quip.

"I don't know what to take from that, that you want to blow me up or tie me up…" Sabine audibly sighed and shook her head, following him.

"I should have seen that one coming. Keep it up, and it'll be the first option."

"You wound me, Sabine. And here I thought we were having a moment," Ezra chuckled, scanning the vendors to avoid what he assumed was Sabine's helmeted glare.

"Are you taking your lines from Hondo now?" Sabine replied, glad that her helmet prevented Ezra from seeing the slight amusement that had twisted the ends of her lips into a smile. She glanced at the list that Hera had given them before they departed the _Ghost_ ; in addition to being a social event, the weekend markets provided an opportune time to resupply without arousing suspicion. "Where do you want to start? Electronics, hardware, produce…"

"Caf?" Ezra interjected, eyes set on a small café on the street corner. Sabine looked up from the list to Ezra. They had set out from the _Ghost_ just before daybreak, before she had been able to pour herself her ritualistic second cup.

"Sounds good to me," she replied, following him across the street and into the small building. As soon as they entered the door, the aroma of roasted beans flooded their nostrils, making Sabine's craving even stronger.

"Find a table, I've got this one," Ezra stated, making his way to the counter before Sabine could respond. She took a step towards him to object to him buying, but then eyed the counter. Sabine shook her head in amusement as she realized what had caught Ezra's attention. A girl, about their age, stood behind the register. She wore her hair up, but it was clearly shoulder length or longer, soft blonde in color. Sabine stepped back outside, taking a seat at an outdoor table that sat adjacent to the window of the café. Placing her helmet on the table, she sat back and began to observe.

As Ezra approached the counter to place his order, she could see the corner of his lip curl upwards, undoubtedly giving the barista the same cocky half-smile he had given Sabine when they had first met. Next, he'd flash his azure eyes at her, and probably open with some dumb joke or quick quip to break the ice. The delivery would be perfect; confident, but with just enough of a tint of nervousness in his tone to make it sincere. Almost on cue, the girl behind the counter began to laugh. Sabine raised her eyebrow again. Through the glass, she could see him continue to banter with the girl, more laughing, then the exchanging of credits. As he turned to wait for the order, Sabine quickly averted her gaze to the street outside.

Observing the foot traffic moving along the sidewalk, a thought slid into the forefront of Sabine's mind. _Have I really memorized that much about Ezra?_ She had seen right through his bravado when they had first met, and his flirtatious passes had ended shortly thereafter. Of course, the quips and comments had continued even to this day, but always with a tone of jest and teasing. Forced to work in such close proximity, the two had developed a friendship forged in shared joys, pain, and combat.

Sabine peered again into the café, watching as Ezra casually leaned on a railing as he waited for their beverages. In the couple of years since joining the crew, Ezra had shot up in height, quickly gaining on Kanan's stature. Initially, the surge in nutrition had allowed him to acquire some of the baby fat that an early teen should have, but it had since burned away under the training Kanan and Rex imposed on him. His eyes and smile still had a boyish lilt to them, but one tempered by the rapid maturity induced by two years of warfare.

On the other side of the counter, the barista was busy working the orders of late-morning rush, but continued to sneak glances over towards where Ezra was leaning. His near-mastery of the first impression, combined with new-found maturity in his looks...

 _That's definitely going to be a problem_ Sabine thought to herself with a smirk.

The barista turned to where Ezra was standing called in his direction. He moved back to the counter, another exchange of smiles, words, and laughs, and then he turned and walked out the door to where Sabine was seated.

"One large black caf, as dark as your warrior's heart," Ezra announced with a teasing grin.

"You flatter me," Sabine replied as she took the cup from his extended hand. The deep aroma of the hot beverage cleared her senses, and she took a long sip as Ezra seated himself across from her. He removed the lid of his cup, blew once to cool the liquid, then replaced the top and took a sip of his own.

"Did your new friend make it correctly?" Sabine teased, watching his reaction from behind another long pull from the cup.

"She was nice. And yes, as a matter of fact, the blue milk is steamed perfectly."

"There's a joke about Jedi being milk-drinkers in there somewhere, but I'll save it. Besides, I'm just glad that it turned out okay. She spent more time looking at you than at the caf machine." Ezra leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms defensively.

"We had a nice conversation."

"Oh, I'm sure," Sabine said, letting a teasing smile brighten her reply. Ezra pointedly rolled his eyes and took another long drink from his cup. Ezra's earlier pause in the street crossed Sabine's mind, so she postponed the teasing, for the moment.

"So, earlier in the street, what got you thinking?" Sabine asked.

"Oh, that… I was just thinking about the past. The markets… I guess I just didn't think I'd miss anything about Lothal, but being here makes me think about… the way things used to be." Ezra's eyes darkened, the humor fading with clouds of sorrow. "The markets were probably the closest thing I had to good days. Plenty to eat, things to see and explore… sometimes they made it seem like things would return to normal, how they were." He cast his eyes downwards, in the direction of the table but as if he was staring beyond it. His fingers absently picked at the protective jacket around the cup of caf he held before him.

Sabine had expected that whatever had been on his mind was important, but was still phased by the sudden shift in Ezra's tone. As much as she played along with his jokes of being cold, she genuinely hated seeing the pain memories of the past would bring to his eyes. Perhaps their similar experiences of losing so much at such a young age reminded her of the thoughts that plagued her own nightmares. Or, maybe she was beginning to allow herself to open up to another possibility altogether.

She really did care for him.

On an impulse, Sabine reached out and placed a hand on his wrist. Ezra's gaze snapped up and locked with hers, a mix of shock and surprise covering the sorrow from before. Something else was in his eyes, something that Sabine couldn't quite identify. For a few seconds, the two remained frozen. Sabine glanced back down to her hand.

A few streaks of black poked out from the top of the paper jacket, where the weight of her hand on his grip had caused it to sink lower on the cup. She moved her hand from his wrist to the cup, pulling the jacket down further. The grin of amusement started on one side of her face, then quickly crossed to both sides. She rotated the cup so that her discovery would be visible to him. A series of comlink-digits in distinctively feminine handwriting adorned the white paper cup. Ezra's face flushed several shades deeper almost instantaneously.

"Um… I don't have any… what's that?"

Sabine lost her composure, letting her head fall back in laughter.

 _I'm going to have to keep an eye on him_ , she thought.

 _For his own good, of course._

 **Author's note: Just a little, fluffy short in preparation for** _ **Imperial Supercommandos**_ **. This was a lot of fun to write, and I hope you enjoyed!**

 **All the best,**

 **JA**


End file.
